Chapter thirteen

A proposition

Just stay calm, Anna reminded herself. That's the key here.

Easier said than done.

When she had first made her decision, she had merely felt jitters. Now, a day and a half later, she felt like her entire stomach was about to jump out her throat. Evidently, conviction in your choice of action didn't make its execution any less nerve-wracking.

She climbed the red stairs, heart pounding louder with every footstep. Part of her chastised herself for taking too long to actually get around to it, but she knew she had waited just the right length of time – it had taken quite some time to prepare what she needed, and late at night, she felt, would be the perfect time.

Now, if only she could quit jittering long enough to climb the damn stairs!

Stay calm, she repeated in her mind. You've got the whole speech planned out, you practiced, like, 20 times. Just say the same thing you said 20 times before, and it'll go perfectly.

This thought gave her some comfort, although this relief was lessened somewhat by the knowledge that she had already screwed up the first part of her rehearsed speech not half an hour ago.

She owed Olaf and Kristoff a huge apology. She had gotten mad at them earlier for screwing up three lines – she couldn't even make it through one.

Go ahead, go to bed – I've got a couple things I need to do first.

That was how she had said it while practicing, perhaps twenty times over. But the one time it had actually mattered…

xxxxx

Elsa yawned. "What time is it?" she wondered aloud, glancing at the grandfather clock.

She stood up. "I think I'm gonna go to bed now." She turned to Anna, who was putting the pieces of their board game away. "You coming?"

Anna froze mid-motion. "No," she said quickly. "No, you go, go ahead. I need to…I have some…stuff I have to do."

"Really?" Elsa said, puzzled. "Like what?"

"Oh, you know," Anna said nervously. "Normal…stuff."

Elsa stood there, trying to figure out what she meant. Anna offered no clarification.

"Are you okay, Anna?" she asked. "You're acting a little funny."

"What? No I'm not," Anna said quickly.

Elsa didn't know how to respond. Silence ensued.

"Well…okay then," she said eventually. "Good night."

"Yeah," Anna said, grateful for the exit opportunity. "Good night."

Elsa turned around, heading for the stairs.

As she left the room, she heard a thumping noise that sounded distinctly like Anna banging her head against the table.

xxxxx

No I'm not.

The idiocy of that line bounced around in her head, even half an hour later. She shook her head, trying to forget about her own stupidity.

Just forget about it. Stay focused on what's important.

She made it to their bedroom door, which Elsa had closed, seemingly out of habit. She reminded herself again what she had practiced.

Knock three times. Just like you did the first time.

Anna, trying to keep her nerves steady, leaned forward and knocked.

Knock

Knock

Knock

Thud

She had leaned forward too far, and her head slammed right into the door.

If she hadn't felt like an idiot before, she certainly did now. She lifted her head off the door, cursing herself.

What the hell is wrong with me? I can't even balance on my own two feet? Maybe I should just give up right now, before she sees me flopping around out here like a –

"Come in."

Anna stopped mid-thought. Almost instantly, she smiled.

Truly, her sister was magical indeed if all it took was two words to banish all the self-loathing thoughts from her mind.

Still, it was a trembling, shaky hand that turned the door handle. Anna swallowed, trying to compose herself as she pushed the door open.

Elsa was sitting on the bed, reading. She looked up at Anna with mild surprise. "Anna?"

Anna smiled nervously. "Of course. I mean, who else would it be? Were you expecting someone else in the middle of the night? Oh – not like that, I mean, I wasn't accusing you of…" She trailed off.

Smooth.

There was an awkward silence.

"Anyway," Anna said, fighting the urge to leave the room and start banging her head against the wall. "Elsa, I have something important I need to say. Do you have a minute?"

Elsa smiled. "For you, always," she said, swinging her legs off the bed.

Anna swallowed.

All right, try and do this without embarrassing yourself – further.

She cleared her throat. "Elsa, these last few weeks have been…truly amazing. I've never been happier, and I hope you feel the same."

Elsa nodded. "I do," she said.

Anna smiled. "In that case," she said, getting into her rehearsed parts, "I think we'd both agree that it would be in our best interests to continue along that same path." She turned to one side, starting to pace back and forth in front of Elsa.

"Of course, the best way to do that," she continued, gesturing randomly, "would be for us to somehow engineer a scenario where we could always be together, all the time."

So far, so good, she thought to herself. Slowly inch your way closer to the main point.

"As sisters," she continued, "we couldn't do that, but there would be one way that we could."

Elsa said nothing. Anna completed her pace, and slowly turned back to Elsa.

"With that in mind," she said, "I have a proposition. Well, perhaps 'proposition' isn't quite the word I'm…" She trailed off, and her jaw dropped.

Elsa was down on one knee. And she had pulled out a small box.

"Sorry for interrupting," Elsa said. "I got impatient."

Anna was speechless. Every line of her rehearsed speech – along with everything else in her mind – had just disappeared.

Elsa looked into her eyes. "Princess Anna of Arendelle, there is nothing in this world I'd love more than to be with you, every day, for the rest of my life."

She opened the box, revealing a diamond ring.

"Will you marry me?"

Anna couldn't answer. In fact, she couldn't move a muscle. She simply stood there, paralyzed, as the shock and amazement washed over her.

Elsa stood there, patiently. Eventually, got a little concerned. "Anna?" she said, slightly worriedly.

In response, Anna lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Elsa and knocking them both to the floor.

"Yes!" Anna shouted, gasping slightly as the impact with the floor knocked the wind out of her. "Yes yes yes yes YES, I'll marry you!"

"That's…great," Elsa gasped, struggling to breathe with Anna pressed down on top of her.

"Oh, sorry," said Anna, rolling off her. Elsa inhaled deeply, panting for a few seconds.

Then, when she had caught her breath, she rolled over on top of Anna, and they kissed.

They stayed like that for hours, lying on the floor in each other's arms. Neither said a word, because, really, what more could be said?

And neither of them had ever been happier than in that moment.